The Hook - The Dish » 2010

Restaurant Week to help kids eat healthy

by Dave McNair 4:07 pm June 30th

During the last January’s Restaurant Week, $10,156 was raised for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, which was exactly $1 from everyone who enjoyed one of the participating restaurant’s prix fixe meals. This time around, $1 from every $26 prix fixe meal sold between July12-18 will go to the The PB&J Fund, which connects Charlottesville youth with the resources and knowledge necessary to help develop a healthy diet. The money raised during RW will go to expanding an impromptu holiday giving program the organization started last year.

By working with community partners to provide healthy meals and teach (more)

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Eat a peach: Officials say season will be peachy

by Dave McNair 2:46 pm June 30th

Like peaches? Or, like the late Duane Allman, just want to eat one for peace? According to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), you’re in for a treat this year.

“This has been a strange year for weather,” says Matthew J. Lohr, VDACS Commissioner, in a recent release, “and frankly, we didn’t know what to expect. But so far, it’s been a great year for peaches. With good rains followed by heat, and with no major natural disasters, Virginia growers have been able to produce a crop of large, sweet peaches with good color and great taste this year.”

The peach harvest has started about (more)

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Waiter gets robbed

by Dave McNair 2:02 pm June 30th

The Daily Progress reports that a waiter was beaten and robbed very early Monday morning June 28 in the 1800 block of University Avenue, presumably after coming off a late night shift. He was punched in the head from behind and then the two thieves went through his pockets.

Be careful, all you Charlottesville servers!

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Jefferson flips out

by Dave McNair 12:01 pm June 30th

TV viewers may have noticed a new ad campaign for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, which features a commercial in which Thomas Jefferson shows up at a modern-day back yard party to discover that the woman of the house has stolen his mac and cheese recipe. Our third President then proceeds to smash the deck furniture. You can find the commercial on YouTube.

As luck would have it, Dish had a chance to (more)

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CiderWorks to celebrate

by Dave McNair 11:44 am June 30th

Former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine enjoys a little CiderWorks cider last year.
PHOTO BY DAVE MCNIAR

Last year, in an effort to promote new local agribusinesses, former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine was on hand July 13 for the grand opening of the Albemarle CiderWorks at Rural Ridge Orchard on Route 29 South, one of only two hard cider producers in the state. Kaine declared the cider to be “spectacular” and told a funny story about serving it to his family at breakfast, unaware that the tasty stuff contained seven percent alcohol.

On July 10 and 11 the CiderWorks will be celebrating its first birthday with an open house, featuring featuring cider tastings, music by Jim Waive with Anna Matijasic , and local food.

The tasting room is open Tuesday through Sunday 11 to 5but during this event the the tasting fee will be waived. For more information go to www.albemarleciderworks.com or call 434-297-2326.

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Closet fire: Mop head blaze smokes up Rev Soup

by Lisa Provence 10:47 am June 29th

Nothing was cooking when things started smoking up this morning, say staffers who evacuated the restaurant.
PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

A mop head stored in a closet beside a hot water heater burns briefly this morning around 9:30am at Revolutionary Soup.

The fire is quickly put out, the damage minimal and the Charlottesville Fire Department ventilates the basement eatery.

The souperie will be open for lunch. And today’s special: blackened tilipia salad, according to owner Will Richey’s blog.

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Restaurant Week is coming!

by Dave McNair 11:26 am June 25th

July 12, 2010 5:00 pm to July 18, 2010 5:00 pm

restweek-logo21 These illustrious participating restaurants will each offer three-course, prix fixe menus for just $26 from July 12th-18th, 2010. Click on their logos below to check out their websites and/or menus for the week. Please note that reservations at each of these fine establishments is strongly recommended. So check their listings in the Hook’s Foodfinder and give ‘em a click or a call. (more)

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Java Depot up for sale

by Dave McNair 11:25 am June 23rd

The Java Depot could be yours.
PHOTO BY COURTESY THE JAVA DEPOT

Ever dreamt of owning a café in a historic train depot in the mountains of Virginia? Well, the Java Depot near Wintergreen happens to be for sale. Co-owner Nancy Kern reports that she and her husband are reluctantly offering the place up.

“It has been a dream come true and one of the most wonderful years of my life,” says Kern. But since she’s been holding down a full-time job in Charlottesville, and her husband Richard’s architecture business has been picking up, the duo are finding it hard to keep up with things at the restaurant.

Meanwhile, there’s still time to check out the place and they are still co-sponsoring the Wintergreen Performing Arts Summer Music Festival and Academy in July.

If you’re interested in talking to Kern about the particulars you can contact her at or 434-361-2324.

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Splendora’s changes hands

by Dave McNair 5:48 pm June 22nd

Splendora’s on the Downtown Mall.
PHOTO BY STAFF

Splendora’s Gelato Café, which has been thrilling Downtown Mall mavens with its big city design and exotic Italian gelatos and coffees since 2004, has changed ownership.

Like Bodo’s founder Brian Fox, original owners Fax and Andrea Ayres appear to have used the Willy Wonka method of passing things on, handing the golden key over to a former counter girl, Patricia Ross, a UVA grad who started in 2005 and has been in charge of making the gelato and running the place since last year.

We decided to sell to Patricia because she will be a great new owner,” says Andrea Ayres. “She has really learned the ropes with regard to the whole business. We felt that Splendora’s needed some new ideas, and Patricia is incredibly creative and into food trends.”

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Stonefire Kitchen opens in Barboursville

by Dave McNair 3:50 pm June 21st

Stonefire Kitchen in Barboursville.
PHOTO FROM STONEFIRE STATION WEBSITE

Dish has been hearing good things about Stonefire Kitchen, which opened earlier this month right next to the Stonefire Station event space in Barboursville near the intersection of Route 20 North and Route 33. It’s a gourmet deli and wine store brought to you by Carl and Tori Tremaglio, who opened Oregano Joe’s years ago, later founded party rental company Festive Fare, and, in 2004, opened Stonefire Station. They’ve partnered with former Palladio Restaurant sous-chef and Johnson and Wales School of Culinary Arts graduate Jeremy Butterfield.

Of course, as is the trend now, ingredients for sandwiches, soups, pannini, salads, and other foods will be sourced locally. The owners say they’ll also be offering gift baskets, sandwich platters, and picnic baskets. Check out their latest menu here.

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